We’re in the new year, with ideas about cooking at home more, trying new things and making it easy on ourselves. I promise you that these balsamic barbecue baked chicken thighs are just the thing to get you started in your 2024 journey.
January is usually when I get all the gusto back about being in the kitchen. I grab my cookbooks and dig through them and my memory for stand-out dishes that I made or ate in the last year and loosely plot out what I want to recreate at home.
Barbecue is always at the top of my list – I think it’s in my top five favorite types of foods – bold statement, I know. It’s mostly because I love sauces and I love french fries and the two usually go hand in hand with barbecue. However, to me it evokes a more warm weather vibe, and I wanted something that would still fit the theme but in a cozier, homier, wintery way.
Enter, balsamic vinegar.
It’s become one of my favorite secrets to make the ordinary a little extraordinary. I love it in dessert, and also use it to add depth and somethin’ to other dishes. And that’s exactly what it does here.
I also try to use January to do a good pantry and freezer eat down (including those condiments!), and because of that, I had most of what I needed at home to make this dish – you just might too! For the rest, I ran over to Zingerman’s Deli to round out my ingredient list.
Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make these Balsamic Barbecue Baked Chicken Thighs
- bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs. Yes, chicken thighs. They are just better, IMO. If you’re going with the breasts on this one, you’ll need to adjust the cooking time – likely by about half (depending on the thickness of your chicken. Get it up to an internal temp of 165F.
- grill seasoning/barbecue rub – because of course we’re seasoning our chicken before we sauce it!
- barbecue sauce base – we’re making our own sauce here, so you’ll need all the making for standard barbecue sauce – plain tomato sauce, whole-grain Dijon, maple syrup, garlic, Worcestershire, brown sugar, S&P.
- balsamic vinegar – I went with one aged 8 years- a solid everyday vinegar.**
How to make balsamic barbecue sauce
- Mix the tomato sauce, maple syrup, Dijon mustard, minced garlic, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, salt, pepper and balsamic vinegar in a medium saucepan.
- Cook it down! Let the sauce cook down over medium/medium-low heat about 15 minutes until it’s slightly thicker. At that point, you can give the chicken an initial brush, and cook it down a little more while the chicken is in the oven.
- Reduce the heat to low and let simmer another 20 minutes. It should be reduced in size by about 1/3.
How long can I store the barbecue sauce?
- Store your barbecue sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Because this sauce is vinegar-based, it should last in the fridge up to two weeks.
I served my chicken thighs with some oven roasted potatoes (giving the french fries a pass this round) and roasted broccoli- which meant that everything on the table was hands-off until it was time to eat.
I think that’s a great precedent to set for 2024, don’t you?
Zingerman’s Deli is having a huge balsamic blowout sale, so head over and stock your pantry! Besides the 8-year I mentioned above, I love this one simply poured over vanilla ice cream. YUM!
This post was sponsored by Zingerman’s Deli. Thank you for supporting the brands that support THB!
Balsamic Barbecue Baked Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- 4 TB grill seasoning
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 1 cup balsamic vinegar
- 2 TB Dijon mustard
- 2 TB maple syrup
- 2 TB light brown sugar
- 2 TB Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp coarse black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- In a medium saucepan, add the tomato sauce, vinegar, mustard, maple syrup, brown sugar, Worcestershire, garlic and pepper. Place over medium high heat for 15 minutes.
- Place the chicken a large bowl and cover thoroughly with grill seasoning. Place in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush with barbecue sauce and place in the middle rack of the oven. Set timer for 20 minutes
- While the chicken is in the oven, place the barbecue sauce back on the stove and simmer for 20 minutes, or until reduced by 1/3 in volume
- After the chicken has cooked 20 minutes, brush it with another layer of barbecue sauce and return to the oven. Cook another 20 minutes or until the internal temperature is 165F.
- Remove from the oven and brush with another layer of sauce. Serve, with extra sauce on the side.
